In offices, conventionally, keys for individually opening and closing storage cabinets are stored in a key management box. In using one of the keys, a user opens a door of the key management box after authenticated with an ID card or the like and takes out a key to a storage cabinet the user intends to open. The key management box permits the door to be opened only when the user is ID-authenticated with the ID card and has the access right for the subject storage cabinet.
When a user wants to check or get documents in many storage cabinets, the user has to bring around many keys. This is poor in working efficiency. To solve such inconveniences, there is a demand for a system capable of opening and closing a plurality of storage cabinets by use of one same key.
As the system for opening and closing a plurality of storage cabinets by using the same single key, a master key has been known. The master key is able to open and close all the storage cabinets but it is intended for emergency, e.g., if any one personal key is lost. If the master key is daily used, it is meaningless to provide different locks to different storage cabinets for management. Furthermore, it is impossible to set an access right for each storage cabinet to each person.
On the other hand, there is a commercially available configuration using replaceable cylinder locks so that different locks are set in different storage cabinets and the storage cabinets are permitted to be opened and closed with a single key. This makes it possible to arbitrarily set and change storage cabinets permitted to be opened and closed with the same single key.
On the other hand, a technique using an IC tag and a key in combination is disclosed in Patent Literature 1. Patent Literature 1 discloses that a contact IC tag is built in a grip portion of a key, data of the IC tag is read by a door-side data terminal which contacts with a key-side data terminal partly exposed from the grip portion. The key is inhibited from rotating by a solenoid if the data has not been registered as ID.
The key is a normal key having a specific shape for opening/closing a specified lock. An advantage disclosed is that even when a copy of the key is made, the lock is not unlocked unless the contact IC tag is not built in the key. In paragraph [0027], there is disclosed that an electrical lock is unlocked by authentication of only an IC tag.    Citation List    Patent Literature    Patent Literature 1: JP10 (1998)-252327A